IGN caught up with Jamaican Lottery Company Ltd. (JLC) this week to get a progress report on the company's effort to take the lottery to the Internet.
Kyle Keehan, director of the company, says the Jamaican Lottery should go live in March. In October 1999, the company signed an agreement with eLottery to sell tickets online. JLC is the only licensed lottery operator in Jamaica.
While there is no clear legislation in Jamaica regarding cyberbetting, Keehan says there are some
operators in the Free Trade Zone. In order to maintain their FTZ status, the operators cannot accept wagers
from Jamaican citizens. The government is currently working on a new policy, but hasn't given JLC staff any indications of the direction that will be taken.
Other types of gambling, for now, are out of the picture. "The Jamaica Lottery Company has not considered casino or sportsbooks at this time," Keehan said. "Our focus is on building our lottery brand on the Internet and integrating the Internet operation with our 'traditional' lottery sales ('Bricks & Clicks'). We will look at these other operations when the government's policy becomes clearer and we have our Internet lottery site firing on all cylinders."
The company pays a 25 percent corporate tax on all profits earned. Additionally, taxes are calculated from the gross revenues of sales, varying with each game's prize structure.